Users of social media network Facebook will now be able to respond to a post with something other than a ‘like’, but there’s still no ‘dislike’ button.
The feature began its roll out on Friday 9th October, and consists of a number of emojis – small icons that are used to convey an emotion or reaction.
By hovering the cursor over the existing ‘like’ button – or long pressing, if you’re using a tablet or smartphone – users are presented with a choice of ‘love’, ‘yay’, ‘haha’, ‘sad’, ‘wow’ and ‘anger’. Each of these reactions has an emoji that corresponds to it, and will be displayed along with the number of conventional likes below a post.
As with regular likes, a user can only add one at a time, so you couldn’t say ‘wow’ and ‘like’ in one response.
Facebook’s users have long called for an actual ‘dislike’ button, but it was an issue that founder Mark Zuckerberg has long danced around, and despite his indications last December that one may be implemented, it was not to be. He said of the matter:
“Everyone feels like they can just push the Like button, and that’s an important way to sympathise or empathise with someone.
“We need to figure out the right way to do it so it ends up being a force for good, not a force for bad.”
Despite users clamouring for it, many professionals involved in search engine optimisation, reputation management and PR may be breathing a sigh of relief as it may have made engaging with audiences on the platform that little bit more difficult.
The feature is gradually being tweaked as it is introduced, so it’s possible that when it’s available for every user, some emojis may have changed.
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